❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump terminated all trade negotiations with Canada following a misleading anti-tariff advertising campaign funded by the Ontario provincial government.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Donald Trump, Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario provincial government, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The developments unfolded late Thursday night, with statements released on social media.
💬KEY QUOTE: “TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” said President Trump.
🎯IMPACT: The Ontario government’s media campaign appears to have derailed U.S.-Canada trade talks, marking the second time the province’s premier, Doug Ford, has done so.
President Donald J. Trump broke off trade talks with Canada after one of its provincial governments launched a media campaign attacking the America First leader’s tariff policies. The Ontario provincial government is behind the anti-tariff television spots, which have aired on Newsmax, Bloomberg, Fox News, NBC, and ABC.
The advertisement uses selective audio from former President Ronald Reagan, warning against tariffs. In the edited clip, Reagan states, “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars.” He added, “Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs.” In another part of the advertisement, lines from two separate segments of Reagan’s speech are stitched together, altering the context of what the former President was saying.
President Trump responded to the misleading media campaign late Thursday, writing in a post on Truth Social, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.” He continued: “The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”
Likewise, the Ronald Reagan Foundation issued a statement condemning the ad spot and threatened legal action unless it was taken off the air, as “the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks.” The non-profit group also posted the full, unedited audio of Reagan’s April 25, 1987, “Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade,” from which the edited clips were taken.
This is not the first time Canada’s Ontario province has meddled in trade talks with the U.S. This past March, Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, was forced to drop retaliatory energy tariffs after pressure from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Trump White House. Ford had imposed the energy tax just 24 hours prior, setting off a brief escalation in trade tensions.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
